Octaire Online
by ShadesEdge
Summary: What happened after Kirito changed the video game world forever? What happened to the world of VRMMORPGs, the ones that took so many hearts and lives? Follow an aspiring gamer living in a world where gaming is everything.


**Time for a new story! This one is a Sword Art Online spinoff that takes many years after the SAO, ALO, and GGO Arcs. I'm really proud of this story because every single character here (except a few throwbacks and homages to the anime) are all OCs ^-^ This story is going to be the same as my others, I'll write when I'm feeling like writing and I'll upload it when I'm happy with the final result!**

 **Again, thanks to everyone who's still sticking with me, and hello to all the new people who are reading my stories everyday! Take care everyone.**

 **-Shade**

 _Download finished. Begin installation?_

I dragged my mouse over to the green box and clicked it, sighing as the install started. "NerveGear downloads sure take a long time..." I muttered.

"Saki! Get out here and take out the trash before dinner!"

"I know, I know." I sighed as I got out of my chair and walked downstairs, greeted by a black bag filled with old food and paper. "Anything else Mom?" I asked in a raised voice.

"Is all your homework done?" she asked as she walked into the room with a smile. "I don't want any of your professors complaining about your work after you head back to school."

I smiled back. "Don't worry Mom, I got it all done so I can do as much gaming and grinding as I can. You know me. Plus, when have I ever slacked on work over summer break?"

She faked a sigh and tapped her foot. "You and your father...you're both like this. You're both so talented and you use it all on games. Quite a shame, although you do everything I ask so I suppose I have to comply with it."

I bumped her playfully. "Come on, you know that it's easier to work if we both always lock ourselves in our rooms."

She nodded absentmindedly and smiled. "Right. Anyways, take that out and then you're off the hook for the rest of the week. Be sure to eat something too! The last thing I need is you starving up there." she teased and patted my head as she walked away.

"Thanks Mom! Have a good week!" I called as I dragged the black bag outside into the bright hot sun, squinting as I dropped it into the silver trash can.

 _Australia never seems to cool down...for fucks sake..._

I flopped down under a tree and smiled. "Even so...I guess it's not too bad." I closed my eyes and breathed in the crisp air, remembering all of the schoolwork I had done earlier that day.

"What idiot decided to give college classes to gifted 10th grade students? I'd like to find him and make sure that he never gets to-"

"Yo! You almost ready for the release?" a voice behind me roared happily, and I smiled as I recognized my friend Will's familiar yelling.

"Outside? I didn't expect to see you out here on the day of a game release in this stupid summer sun." I said.

"First, I'm going to be inside for the rest of the week so i decided that I may as well get some sun while I could. Second, it's not just any game! You do realize that we're about to experience the best VRMMORPG since Sword Art Online, right?

I smiled. Will had always had a tendency to over exaggerate things that he was excited about, although this time I actually agreed with him.

"And I suppose that this is even better than the time you almost cleared a boss by yourself in ALO that you don't have any proof for?" I asked, leaning against the tree and trying not to laugh.

"You and I both know that I'm telling the truth! Besides, I don't have to justify myself to you, even if you are one of the highest ranked players in ALO." he smirked.

"Ah come on dude, you know I don't care that much about rankings..." I muttered.

He smacked my shoulder playfully. "Oh come off it. You just don't like all the attention, at least with this game you'll get a fresh start and you can shape a whole new character in this world, right?"

I smiled and nodded. Today was the release of the most anticipated VRMMORPG of 2084, and possibly even the most anticipated game in the last half-century. Ever since the SAO incident, every gaming company was forced to hold back on their full-dive MMORPGs to a point where they almost became repetitive. ALO was still the game that most enthusiasts played, but it was getting to the point where even a great game like that was getting old.

"Can you believe it? NerveGear finally convinced the government to let them create a full dive that can utilize the full power of their hardware...and we're alive to see its release." Will said.

"Forget that, we're alive to play it. I honestly can't wait to see what they were able to do with it...I hear it's going to be a complete mix of SAO, ALO, and GGO all in one." I said, recalling an article I read a few months back.

Will's eyes lit up. "The weapons are all gonna be incorporated too! I heard that there's going to be three class choices, Mage, Swordsman, and Ranger, but every single auto-aim feature was taken away, the sword skills were cut down, and the magic has a higher mana cost and cooldown."

"So they're all technically equal?" I asked. Will nodded and counted off on his fingers.

"But they all have different skill sets. Obviously mages have to use a power source like mana and the rangers have to use ammunition, but swordsman draw from some weird life force power that they haven't explained yet, so that's still a mystery. Although a Leak says that it's going to be like sword skills times ten."

"I can already assume that you're choosing the Mage class, seeing as you've stuck with that ever since we played ALO for the first time." I teased.

"And I know you'll choose Swordsman, since you have for no apparent reason for every MMO I've every played with you." he shot back with a smirk.

I smirked. _Yeah...no apparent reason..._ "Yep. So what, we'll meet when we spawn in and start some basic gear grinding for the first few days, right?"

Will nodded. "Sounds good to me. I gotta get back and make sure it's finished installing, don't forget to pick the right class!" he called as he crossed the yard back to his house.

"Idiot." I muttered under my breath with a smile. I walked back inside as the sun began to set and shut the door, then started up the stairs.

"I'll come down for some real food in a while Mom! Will and I are gonna be busy for a day or two probably!" I called as I took the stairs two at a time, not even listening for a reply. I slid into the upstairs and crossed the hall leading to my room. I closed the door and smiled as I grabbed my mouse and clicked through all of the various gaming blogs that were blowing up about the new release, each one plastered with the same header. The title to the game.

OCTAIRE ONLINE

I opened the newest one and scrolled through the news feed until I reached a timer with a large seven on the clock face, the minutes slowly ticking down. I opened my download bar and made sure that the NerveGear was connected to the port, then laid it on my bed and rolled back over to my computer.

I opened the ALO website and checked the rankings one last time, sighing as I saw that I was now number two in the global rankings, behind someone named X, who seemed to be a Mage.

"Hardly any surprise." I chuckled under my breath. "Mages are one of the easiest classes to use in MMOs nowadays...I wonder why people enjoy playing as them if they're that easy."

I looked down the rankings and saw a few more names that I vaguely recognized as the popular guild "Death Slayers". My eyes flicked back up towards the guild next to my name, "Hell's Angels" and wondered if anyone from my guild would be playing the new game.

"Probably not...they aren't really interested in starting over." I sighed. My mind drifted to the endless quests to level up and the loot grinds that had plagued my online life for the last several months. "Fucking pathetic, all they want is virtual reputation while I just want to play."

I reached over to my PC tower to turn off my computer and stopped as a message slid across the top of my monitor, then pinged softly. I leaned back up and saw the option for a chat, sent by a user named 'Raize'

I swept my mouse over to the 'x', but looked at the clock instead. "I still have a little over five minutes, so I guess it can't hurt." I thought aloud and opened the chat. I didn't open them often, since they were mostly all requests for trade offers or guild requests from stupidly low-level players who wanted Legendary Class items. But this one felt...special.

 _/ Hello._

I typed a quick reply back and hit "Send"

 _/ Yes?_

 _/ Am I speaking with Lucifer?_

I grinned at the name the person had used. When I first created my ALO account three years ago, I had just learned about the Angel named Lucifer and his fall into Hell to become Satan himself. The name was taken, but when the person who had used it wasn't active for the past seven years, I filed a name request with NerveGear and, surprisingly, I got the name. Ever since, my popularity began to climb, and before I knew it I was frequenting the Top Ten in the world.

 _/ Yep. What do you need?_

 _/ I have an offer for you. I know that you're going to be playing Octaire Online._

 _/ So? I'm sure all of the high-levels are going to be moving over as well. Can I ask what you need?_

 _/ As I said, I have an offer. You're a very skilled player in every sense possible, and you're the leader of the second most popular guild in all of ALO. I'm recruiting for a new guild, and only the best players are going to be joining._

 _/ And why would we be joining a guild that doesn't even have a name?_

 _/ It has a name, and you have to tell me whether or not you're joining right now._

 _/ That's funny. I don't think you can talk down to me when you're 30 levels lower than I am._

I shook my head as I took the information from his profile page.

"A level sixty-six trying to coax a level ninety-six into joining a fake clan. What a joke..."

 _/ Are you joining or not?_

 _/ Haha, I think I'm good. Have fun with your guild._

 _/ Your loss. You'll be laughing all the way to your coffin._

I chuckled and stood up from my desk, stretching out my muscles. "These kids are sure getting more morbid nowadays. 'Laughing to my coffin'? That's certainly a weird thing to say...

I reached over to turn off the computer again, but the small ping of another chat echoed throughout the room.

"For fucks sake...who now?" I sighed as I opened the notification, slightly surprised at what I saw.

NEW CHAT WITH ALO PLAYER: X

"X? Isn't he..." I said as I opened the chat.

 _/ Is this Lucifer?_

 _/ Yeah. What's up? Congrats on #1 in the world by the way._

 _/ Thanks. Are you moving to OTO?_

 _/ Not permanently, but I do plan to be playing that more._

 _/ I see. Did some random level sixty-six just message you and ask you to join a new guild in the game by any chance?_

"What the..." I said as I let my breath out slowly. I looked over at the clock.

Three minutes.

 _/ Actually, yeah. How did you know about that?_

 _/ I didn't. They messaged me too and I assumed that they would go down the leaderboards._

 _/ That's weird. I declined, if you were wondering._

 _/ So did I. Good luck in OTO, maybe we'll cross paths there as well._

 _/ Same to you._

I clicked out of the chat window and shut off my monitor, slightly puzzled and even more excited.

"So X is going to be in Octaire Online as well...and we're both starting at the same level. This is going to be very interesting." I mused as I leaned back onto my bed and stared at the ceiling. I glanced over at the clock and smiled as the time went to one minute left.

I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed the small metal headband that was laying there, careful not to unplug any wires that were so meticulously hooked up to my computer. I slipped the visor over my head and laid back on my bed, the familiar thrill of entering a virtual world moving through my body.

"Link Start" I said softly, making the NerveGear power on with a small beep and a whoosh of color.

 _Welcome back, Lucifer. One download successfully completed in the past twenty-four hours. Opening._

 _File host: Octaire Online Premium Edition detected. Running file._

 _Diagnostics complete. Launching Octaire Online._

I opened my eyes for the first time and was greeted with a pulsing red screen with huge yellow letters that read "Welcome to Octaire Online! Please select your character below"

I swept my hand to the side, dispatching the available tutorial and studied the three boxes in front of me. The first, and easily going to be the most chosen, was the Mage set, filled with wand-like weapons and spellbooks that all required mana.

"Not for me..." I muttered as I looked to the next one.

This one looked a bit more appealing, with rifles crossed over a coat of arms that had some type of strange sniper scope and dual-holstered pistols. A large sign read "Gunsman" over it and was bound to be popular.

"Nope." I said again, moving to the last one.

I reached the last one with a devilish smile on my face. This display was strikingly simple, with a sword crossed over a shield and a familiar-looking black cloak hanging behind it.

 _Looks kind of like...his clothes. I wonder if NerveGear did that to be funny._

I shrugged and tapped the sword, where I was prompted by a pop-up asking for my confirmation on the class choice.

I reached over to tap "Yes", but the whole world started to skip. My arms slowly started to fade away, then quickly hopped back into the frame, before slowing down and lagging apart.

 _Lag? On the start screen of the most anticipated game of the whole decade? Bullshit!_

I reached harder, and eventually tapped the "Yes" key, then fell back and was teleported to another location in a flash of light.

"Ow..." I muttered as I opened my eyes again, squinting at a bright light shining straight towards my eyes. I stood up and was immediately jostled around by shimmering avatars in a large area.

"Welcome to Octaire Online. The most anticipated Virtual Reality MMORPG of the 22nd century! Please gather in the Main Courtyard, marked on your minimap, for a brief announcement by this game's creators." a voice boomed through the area on a loudspeaker.

I stood up and wiped off my body, the dust falling off and floating away in the air. I slowly spun my head around and marveled at the graphics, the attention to detail here was absolutely incredible. I reached down and felt a large metal object bump against my leg. Curiously, I reached down and thumbed the length, grimacing when I felt that it was a sword.

"Yo! Lucifer! Get over here!" a voice called. I turned and waved to Will, who had obviously chosen the Mage class, as his body was clad in a ridiculously large robe.

I pushed through the crowd, smiling and greeting people who knew me from ALO, and finally made my way to Will.

"Well well well, looks like we have Will the Worthless here, don't we?" I joked, making him scoff.

"I have far more skill than Saki the Stupid here, but let's stick to online names, okay? I'll call you Lucifer and you call me-" he started.

"Majika, yeah yeah I know the drill. Still, I don't know why you stick with that weird name..." I interrupted.

"Excuse me! It's mysterious, first of all, and second, at least I'm not impersonating Satan himself! Anyways, did you hear the announcement? I guess we all have to stay here and wait for that briefing." he pondered.

I nodded. "Seems like it. Have you seen anyone else? Maybe people from Hell Raisers?"

Majika shook his head. "No one from them so far. They're still pretty mad that we're moving to a new game. Half of them have even demanded for your resignation of leader. But I've seen people from Death Slayers, and they seem to already have partied up with each other."

I clenched my fist as I watched more people spawn in. "Our guild may be high-ranking, but I hate everyone in it. Everyone except you and perhaps xTayasa. She never talked so I guess she was one of the least annoying people there."

Majika sighed. "You're a hard leader. I hear that people in Death Slayers don't like their leader, X, either...who knows, maybe you two would get along."

"Oh, speaking of him, have you seen X yet?" I asked. "I wanted to talk to him about something in person."

Majika shook his head. "I haven't seen him yet, although the logs say that he popped in and left shortly after. Maybe he had some drama in ALO to deal with."

"That's fine, I'm sure we'll get a chance later on. For now, let's party up and go listen to that announcement-" I started, before I was cut off by the announcement. "Guess we'll have to wait!" I said, then turned to the ceiling of the world and watched as it was replaced by a large screen.

"Welcome to Evergarde, or as it's better known in the online world, Aincrad v2. Everyone at NerveGear have recovered all of the original SAO data and re-made this world in it's entirety, although the bosses have been changed and the classes have been remodeled. And the best part? You can exit the game now." a voice boomed through the courtyard.

"Furthermore, we have a dedicated team of coders to make sure that any hiccup in the game is patched instantly, and as such, we have-bzz-made this world more-...-s-s-s-s secur-r-r-r-r."

"What was that? Did the game already bug out?" someone asked.

"NerveGear must just be messing with us to mimic what happened in SAO...kinda morbid though." a Ranger near me laughed.

The ceiling of the world continued to shift and grind on itself, then a large explosion whooped through the world.

"Tch. What a pathetic excuse of an opening. Oi oi! Some of you may remember us, and some newbies here are probably thinking this is a gimmick eh?" a voice crackled through the world.

"Who's talking?" one of the Rangers in front of me asked loudly.

The voice chuckled. "Who's talking? I'm glad you asked. We're Laughing Coffin, and we're here to shake things up a bit."

"Laughing Codfin? What the hell is a 'Codfin'?"

"Who're they?"

"Must be some type of event. What a stupid name too."

"YOU FOOLS!" the voice roared. "Does no one remember the SAO Incident? The killing guild that plagued SAO and took hundreds of lives? Or Death Gun? The player from ALO that was a part of ALO and took more player lives in a system that count be hacked?"

"W-What's he talking about? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" the Ranger from before yelled. I gritted my teeth as the voice chuckled once more.

"I'm talking...about death. And you shall be a fine test subject. Players, look to this Ranger here. He looks basic enough, right? Yet I can kill him with one press of a button. Observe."

Suddenly, the player was lifted up in the air and began to writhe in protest.

"H-Hey! What are you doing?" he cried, kicking at the air.

The voice sighed. "It's no fun when they don't know what's happening. Watch and see...the POWER OF LAUGHING COFFIN!"

Almost instantly, the player exploded in a shower of sparks and was whisked away by the wind.

The courtyard went silent, the exploded in screams in chaos as everyone began to panic. I watched them scurry, my mind almost frozen in fear.

 _Am I really going to die here...in a virtual world that doesn't even exist?_

I realized that the voice was talking again. "And now...the game begins. Everyone who received my message, you know who you are, are now safe from any death or punishment. Everyone else...don't let your HP reach zero. Or you die. Simple, isn't it?"

I quickly opened my menu and found the button labeled "Log Off", then tapped it as quickly as i could.

/Logout denied.

I clenched my fist and slammed it into a post near me in rage. "How could you...how could you do this again...how...HOW COULD YOU?!" I roared in fury.

"I'll leave you all now, and I expect a good game from all of you. Anyone found cheating, exploiting, or simply not playing the game, you'll be on Laughing Coffin's list. And we will...find you." the voice said, then clicked off.

Mass chaos continued. I grabbed Majika's arm and pulled him into a shop and started at him. "We're going to die here." I growled.

Majika looked back at me almost uncomprehending. "How do we know that he's not bluffing? He could just be telling us this and that Ranger logged out when he told him to!"

I slammed my fist into the table, again. "HE HACKED INTO THE WORLD AND DID THAT! WE'RE GOING TO BE KILLED, WILL!"

He started to shake. "N-No way, there has to be some way to leave! Did you check the menu?"

I nodded absentmindedly. "Access denied. I still can't believe it, at any rate they shouldn't have been able to hack it WHILE the announcement was happening!"

Will sighed and grasped my hand. "Saki. Look at me." he said softly.

I looked at him in confusion. "What is it?"

He smiled. "I know that we're facing unknown dangers, insane challenges, and overall doom, but I'm glad that we're here together. At least we're not alone."

Against all odds, I smiled back. "I guess that's true. But seriously, what happens now? Do we really just play the game?"

He shrugged. "How should I know? You're our guild's leader. Start leading!"

I shook my head in anger. "It just doesn't make any sense! Even if the server was hacked, their team of experts should've been able to beat the hackers at their own game! Hell, ALO's firewall is stronger than this!"

"So you're saying that this could have been...planned?" he asked quietly.

I grimaced. "I don't see any other way that this could have happened."

Majika snapped his fingers. "Wait! Isn't there a fail-safe that someone on the outside world can press that stops all signals instantly? So the game wouldn't be able to trap us like this?"

I clenched my fist. "There is. But you read the Terms and Conditions when you first downloaded the game, correct?"

Majika shook his head.

"They remove all of the functionality of that button, supposedly to "richen the gaming experience"

Majika leaned back into a pole and groaned in frustration. "Well...fuck. Wait, show me your weapons."

I looked at him in confusion. "Huh?"

He stood up quickly. "You know how we each get to choose our class? There's also something new in the choice. Everyone gets a loadout for their class. So I could get Destruction magic, Healing magic, or Illusion magic. The Ranger class can have a Long-Range loadout, a Mid-Range loadout, or a Short-Range loadout for either a gun or bow, too."

I opened my menu and clicked on my class. "Let's see, it says here that I have a Sword Loadout...but isn't that the same as my class?"

Majika shook his head. "No. You have an actual sword. The 'Swordsman' class has either a Halberd, Sword, or a Mace as their main weapon. You got lucky, the regular Sword as a starting class isn't very easy to get, but it's supposedly one of the hardest to use."

I unsheathed my sword and looked at it. "Come to think of it, did you see anyone else with a singular sword?"

Majika scratched his head in thought. "No. You just unequipped your shield, right?"

"No." I said. "I haven't looked at my weapons at all, and I certainly didn't spawn with a shield."

Majika nodded. "And you're the only Sword-Wielding player that's wearing a cloak like that y'know. Everyone else just has light armor."

I ran my fingers along the coarse black cloth and chuckled. "How fitting. Full black clothing for the Devil himself. This must be some kind of fucked up joke."

"Lucifer? Lucifer? What are you doing?" Majika's voice echoed around me. "Are you okay?"

I looked up towards Majika again and gasped as he started to shimmer. His lips continued to move, but I couldn't hear him anymore. I looked down at my own body and felt my voice catch in my throat as my fingers and arms began to expand and collapse in blue fractals. A deep booming filled my ears, and it slowly turned into a pounding sensation that rocked my own body.

It was my heartbeat.

I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Then, the world turned completely black and the thumping stopped.

 _Oh. It stopped...does that mean that I'm...dead?_

My eyes snapped open and a long beep indicated that the NerveGear had been disconnected.

"What the hell...?" I groaned, rolling out of my bed and setting the small device on my desk. My stomach lurched and I fell onto the floor, wheezing heavily. "W-Was that a dream?"

I gasped, dragging myself up to my computer and typing the letters shakily.

/Octaire Online Incident

I took a deep breath and swallowed hard, then tapped the Enter key. I felt my heart drop to the bottom of my stomach as the search completed. The first headline read /Octaire Online...Sword Art Online 2.0?

I searched more, but nothing involving any type of incident came up. "N-No one knows yet! Will...he's alone now...FUCK!" I roared, throwing my chair away from the desk and pacing quickly.

 _Think Saki, think! The first thing I have to do is get to the authorities and report this-no I can't do that. How will I explain how I got out of no one else did. On that note, how DID I get out? Fuck...I can try to contact OTO's support, but they'd be taken over by Laughing Coffin too...fuck._

Knock...knock...knock...

I spun around and looked at my door. The sound had come from there, I was sure of it. But even still, who could it be?

I walked over to the door on the balls of my feet, careful not to make a sound, and pressed my ear to the door.

A muffled voice came through. "Is this where Lucifer lives?"

Another voice replied. "That's what it said when we reverse tracked his location. Why are you being so careful? Just go in and take him!"

The first voice spoke again. "Idiot. K gave us specific orders not to hurt him. We can't let his parents find us either so we have to do this quietly!"

I backed away from the door and breathed heavily. _Take me? Don't let my parents know? And how do they know my online name?_

Three more taps. The doorknob jiggled slightly, making the entire space seem to tremor. Then, ever so slowly, the door opened and a hand slipped in and began to search for a light switch. I carefully crept up and grabbed the flashlight that always hung next to my bed, and clicked it on as soon as I got close to the two people.

"AGH!" they cried in pain, then covered their eyes and fell away from the door. I threw the flashlight down and sprinted past them, taking the stairs three at a time and flinging open the door.

"Shit! Alpha Team, we have a runner!" they called behind me. I ignored them and went out the door, and was immediately slapped in the back with some type of metal object, a sharp pain exploding behind my eyes.

"No you idiot! K wants him unharmed!" another voice yelled behind me. I moved past the pain and continued to run, dashing across the lawn towards Will's house.

 _Fuck...fuck! Who the hell are these guys and why do they know me?! And where I live!_

I heard them closing in and grunted in dissatisfaction. _They're faster than me...so I have to take some insane evasive action if I want to escape..._

I hopped over a fence and felt a flood of adrenaline pump through me as I saw the outline of Will's house in the distance. I hopped down and ran along my neighbor's lawn as quietly as I could, then pushed through their hedge and continued down the road.

"Shit, this kid's fucking fast!" a voice wheezed behind me. "Hey! Kid! Just slow down! We need to talk!" he yelled at me.

"Fuck off, old man!" I laughed. "You aren't taking me anywhere!"

I smiled and kept running, then gasped as something sharp jabbed into my back. I reached back and yanked it out, looking at the small fuzzy dart in minor confusion before I tripped.

I felt the world turn upside down and grunted as my chest slammed into the ground and the world turned black, for the second time that night.

"Don't worry...he's just unconscious. Nothing else is wrong with him, but what were you thinking using that heavy of a dose on a kid?!"

"I swear, I tried everything! That kid's stubborn as anything, he even told me to fuck off. And then he called me an old man! Like what's that?"

"Okay okay, just get out of here. K's going to want to meet them all at the same time."

I groaned groggily and flicked my eyes open. I was met with a pair of bright brown eyes staring into mine.

"Well look who's awake. Our little Lucifer." the person said.

I sat up quickly and groaned. "W-Where am I? Who are you? Oh fuck, what happened to Evergarde? Is Will-"

I was stopped by a finger to my lips. "My my. You really are as hyped up as he said...I guess that's just kids nowadays..." I recognized a feminine voice as my head slowly started to clear up.

I pushed her arm away angrily. "Fine. Then answer them one at a time if you can't listen that long. Who are you." I demanded.

She tutted her tongue. "Insults too? Just who do you think you are, Lucifer?" A sigh followed. "Although it's a valid question. You don't need to know who I am right now, since you're going to meet me again very shortly."

"Fine. Then where am I?" I spat.

She shook her head. "Honestly. Why are you so mad?"

I gripped the bed I was sitting in. "Because..." I growled. "My friend could be dead, and you people have something to do with why I'm here now. Out of that world."

She chuckled. "You really are as smart as our intel said. So you really have an IQ of 210?"

I glared at her. "You've been watching me?"

She nodded. "But that's besides the point. You were asking where you are, correct? This is NerveGear HeadQuarters...more or less."

I raised an eyebrow. "More or less?"

She nodded. "There's been an...incident...and K wants to-"

"Hold up." I said. "Who's K?"

She smiled. "You'll find that out soon enough. Oh, and a word of advice. No one here uses their real names. We all use our online names, it's simply more well-suited for the environment we're in."

I sat up, more calmly this time. "So that's why you called me Lucifer and not Sa-"

She pressed a finger to my lips once more. "I don't need to know your real name. I was not informed to know it so it doesn't matter to me, okay?"

I looked into her eyes and saw that the twinkle that was there was gone. The brown orbs were dead serious, so I nodded gently.

"So." I said, pulling away from her finger. "If I can't know who you are, can I at least know your name?"

She smiled. "I'm Sinon. It's a pleasure to meet you. After all, Lucifer is one of the top VR players in the world, now isn't that right?"

For the first time that day, I smiled. "I'm only number two in Alfheim Online. And I was-wait. Do you have something to do with me getting out of Evergarde?!"

Sinon turned away and held her finger to a small device on her ear, holding a finger in the air to silence me, then spun back around. "They're ready for you. It'll all be explained to you soon." she said.

I swung my legs off of the bed and onto a hard tile floor, then a bag was thrown over my head and I was walked down many corridors, halls, and wings.

"How big is this place?" I asked the man. No reply.

Finally, we came to a stop. "Stay still." he said in a gruff voice, then stood back.

The bag came off and I was momentarily blinded by the light in the room. When the room came into focus, I looked around in minor panic.

There were three more people here.

"Welcome." a calm voice said. "You all must be confused...is that correct?"

"Oi! Fuck off and let me get back home you bloody wanker!" a boy to the right of me yelled, with anger that could break a steel beam.

"So that's our gifted sniper, WiseShot, isn't it?" the voice said, as calm as anything. "I believe we also have Queen here. Would you speak up, my dear?"

"I-I'm not doing anything for you!" Queen's voice trembled. "I may be a girl but I'm just as tough as any of these boys-"

"Calm down. I didn't mean to pick a fight. Is X here?"

"I am." a low voice said. I turned to my right and saw X in person. He looked at me and smirked for some reason. He almost seemed comfortable. I dragged my eyes over the current number one in the world. He had long black hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare daggers into the man behind the desk.

"I expected you to be calm. And now we end on Lucifer. I hear that you play a regular swordsman in those oh-so-fun online games. That certainly can't be very effective, can it?" the voice asked.

I almost grinned. "It's not. I have to work harder than anyone in my guild to level up or take down a boss."

The voice scoffed. "Then why bother?"

"Because it lets me play my way." I retorted. Who was this man and why was he criticizing my class?

"Explain, if you please." he said.

"I can play however I want. I don't have Mana to recharge or bullets to run out of, or even arrows to shoot. Everything, all of my power, is in my hands. No catch, no spellbooks that I have to buy or anything, just a single sword. And that makes the game real." I retorted.

"A...single sword? Isn't it custom to use a shield as well?" the voice queried.

I nodded. "It is. But the shield just slows me down. Plus...there's someone I used to admire that helped contribute to my style. If I used a shield them there'd be no point, plus playing without a shield makes losing a match way more forgiving to myself."

"But I'm assuming that you don't fall very often. If you are number two in the world."

I chuckled. "I lose more than you'd think. Plus, where's the fun if you never die? That just means that there's no one better than you, so you have to work even harder to be the best. I don't want to be the best, I don't even care if I'm good. I just want to be able to do what I want when I want. Sorry if that doesn't make any sens-"

Suddenly, the chair spun around and we were greeted by an older man with a large smile on his face. "That...was a fantastic answer. I've made up my mind now."

"Your mind?" I asked, and the people to the right of me looked to him for an answer.

"But first!" he said, completely oblivious to my question. "I have some explaining to do, don't I?"

"Yeah! Tell us where the bloody hell we are!" WiseShot barked.

"Please sir. I still don't know if my family knows that I'm okay!" Queen said softly.

"And how the hell we got out of Evergarde!" X hissed.

"I need to find out if my friend is okay." I said.

"Enough! I'll answer all that and more! First of all, let's just meet up. I'm sure you all know each other." he said.

We turned and looked at each other.

WiseShot pointed at X. "You the top player in ALO?" X nodded in reply. "Nice." WiseShot chuckled.

X tapped me on the shoulder. "I guess we meet face to face. Kinda cool to see gaming legends in one room, huh?"

I smiled and nodded back. "It kinda is. I find it kinda wild though, there's three ALO legends here and one GGO pro. Hey, WiseShot, how's your main game going?"'

He scoffed. "It's trash. Everyone wants to battle with sabers like that Kirito guy, so mowing them down is easier than ever. I wish it was a challenge like the old days..." he sighed.

Queen giggled. "And I hardly think I'm a legend, Lucifer-san. I just happen to have good accuracy.

"Lucifer-san?" I asked. "Are you Japanese?" Queen nodded. "Wait a second, where are all of you from?" I asked.

"I'm from Canada." X said.

"I'm from England." WiseShot said.

"And I'm from Australia. What the hell is wrong with him? Why would he fly us all...to wherever this is...just to get a few gamers in one place?" I asked in shock.

X laughed. "Well, we are legends. We pretty much make up the top 10 VR players in the world at the moment, so it's even more curious why we were all gathered here."

"Did you guys get pulled from OTO too?" I asked. They all looked at me in shock and nodded.

"Yeah. It was weird. When I was signing in to the game and went to choose the Ranger class, my screen even bugged out!" X said.

"So did mine!" the rest of us exclaimed, then looked back towards the man, wanting answers.

"So now we have a few questions for you. Who are you and why did you bring us here?" I demanded.

The man behind the desk chuckled. "Honestly. Stop treating me like the enemy! I'm a friend."

X scoffed. "Old man, I don't give a fuck. You kidnapped us. That's not what friends do."

"Speaking of friends, let me introduce you to my team. And then maybe you'll show your elders some respect, eh?" he said.

Four other people walked out and smiled at us. "This is Agil, one of my good friends from SAO. Klein! My best friend and loyal partner in battle. Sinon, my friend and teammate from GGO, and Asuna, my fantastic wife." Sinon, who I now recognized as the nurse from earlier smiled at me.

I took a deep breath. "So that makes you..." I said, already knowing the answer.

"That's right. I'm Kirito. Pleasure to meet you all." he said, then looked at me with a smirk. "And I have a job for you to do."


End file.
